Shame and Infidelity - Coursework Example

ESSAY PLAN I. Understanding of the sexualized female body A. Written - “It’s flattering to believe that you and only you, the great lover, could havedone this. That without you, the marriage, incomplete though it is, pathetic in many ways, would have thrived on its meager diet” - a natural part of the contemporary cycle of love-lust-commitment-betrayal B. Kempe - motivated by connection to the other worldly forces of god and the devil - “the devil said in her mind that she should be damned for she was not shriven of that fault” -“she knew well that they had frequently displeased God by their inordinate love and the great delight that each of them had in using the others body, and now it would be good if they should by mutual will and consent punish and chastise themselves” II. Social Context A. Written -acknowledgement of norms of society -’You bloody idiot,’ said my friend. ‘Another married woman -contrasting perspectives on the nature of death and love/sex B. Kempe - “Truly, I would rather see you killed than we should revert to our unclean behaviour. And he replied, You are no good wife.” -contrasting persepective III. Characterization of the Sexual Act A. Kempe -differing degrees of ease regarding the sexual act -“she would have preferred, or so she thought, to eat or drink the slime, the muck in the gutter than to agree to any sexual contact.” B. Written -moral ease -“Cheating is easy. There is no swank to infidelity…When I say ‘I will be true to you’ I am drawing a quiet space beyond the reach of other desires” Shame and Infidelity Philosophical investigations into the nature of sexuality and fidelity have been a major concern of literature from antiquity through modern post-feminist writing. In Jeanette Winterson’s contemporary Written on the Body and the medieval text The Book of Margery Kempe, one can trace the historical trajectory of these investigations. Through comparison of the themes of infidelity and shame, this essay shows the way the texts are different and similar. While Written on the Body and The Book of Margery Kempe both exhibit a concern with the shame and fidelity, their underlining understandings of life differ greatly through the authors’ thematic concern with these concepts. In Written on the Body, Winterson has created a humanist novel in which thematic moral concerns are greatly restricted to the individual desires and sexual cravings of its inhabitants. The theme of marriage is derided as constricting and unnatural, “It’s flattering to believe that you and only you, the great lover, could have done this. That without you, the marriage, incomplete though it is, pathetic in many ways, would have thrived on its meager diet (15).” Many times throughout the novel characters thematically make direct reference to boredom in their current relationships being cause of their infidelity, “’Boredom, fetch me a plaything’ (15).” In Winterson’s world, the question of adultery within relationships is thematically understood to be morally justifiable because it is a normal biological function, a natural part of the contemporary cycle of love-lust-commitment-betrayal. Both Written on the Body and The Book of Margery Kempe acknowledge the theme of the consuming nature of love in relation to infidelity through the theme of difference and similarity. While Winterson thematically revels in it, exalting it to a position transcendent of morality and social concerns, The Book of Margery Kempe explores the theme through the characters’ motivations by showing their strong connection to the other worldly forces of god and the devil. Margery shows intense fear and belief that her actions are controlled by these powers, “the devil said in her mind that she should be damned for she was not shriven of that fault.” Even as Margery attributes her desires to these other-worldly forces, her biological proclivities are thematically similar to the modern day characters found in Written on the Body. It is made clear that Margery physically enjoys these escapades with her husband: …she knew well that they had frequently displeased God by their inordinate love and the great delight that each of them had in using the others body, and now it would be good if they should by mutual will and consent punish and chastise themselves In this regard, both texts thematically acknowledge the tendency of the human condition towards adultery, or increased sexual frequency, but use themes to ultimately attribute it to different things. While the characters in Written on the Body thematically embrace it for its romantic virtue, Margery thematically chastises it as an unjust abomination created by the devil. The two texts also explores of theme of infidelity and shame through the social ramifications of the characters’ actions and use these themes to show the differences and similarities between the books. While Written on the Body thematically embraces a more liberal sexuality, it also thematically acknowledges the conservative perspective. For instance, one of the character’s names is Bathsheba, a religious reference to the biblical Bathsheba with whom King David committed adultery. In the biblical story, God later punishes David for his actions by causing his kingdom to go into disarray. While Winterson’s novel is starkly humanist, with any reference to religion or godly concerns delivered with a detached skepticism, it seems that by referencing the biblical Bathsheba, the novel is thematically foreshadowing the complications that can arise from adultery. While the hand of God is not seen to directly cause catastrophes, many times throughout the novel the theme of adulterous behavior of the characters results in spite and agony. For instance, leaving Jacqueline for Louise causes Jacqueline to go back to the protagonist’s loft and scrawl the word “SHIT” with actual fecal matter on the bathroom wall. For a novel that later develops a thematic concern with the Shakespearean worms from Hamlet by insinuating that we all feast on each other, scrawling ‘shit’ with her actual human waste is an apt means for Jacqueline to express her shame at being thrown away for another human. This can be contrasted with Margery’s abstinence from all forms of sex and her commitment to fasting from food. Other instances of the novel also indicate social disproval, “ ’You bloody idiot,’ said my friend. ‘Another married woman (32).’ ” While the novel’s protagonist follows individual whims of lust and passion, the novel acknowledges the resultant thematic shame it can cause the individual and those affected by the individual. In The Book of Margery Kempe these social concerns use themes to explore the questions of shame and infidelity on the completely opposite end of the thematic spectrum. When The Book of Margery Kempe explores Margery’s pious and conservative theme, it is within a social word that thematically chastises her behavior as extreme. In comparing the two texts, it seems that socially they both have a thematic tendency to embrace monogamy as the accepted and right path, and when the characters veer from it -- through the thematic concern with adulterous behavior in Written on the Body, and the thematic concern with pious behavior in The Book of Margery Kempe -- their actions are associated with a certain amount of social shame. The text reads she “was slandered and disparaged by many people for her disciplined way of living.” Margery also refuses, thematically, to engage in sexual relations with her husband because she finds it unjust which leads him to chastise her, “Truly, I would rather see you killed than we should revert to our unclean behaviour. And he replied, You are no good wife.“ It’s notable that the protagonist is faced with a similar thematic dilemma in Written on the Body when she is forced to leave Louise because staying with her could potentially cost Louise her life from cancer. The protagonist thematically believes she has made the right choice, but the rest of the novel is thematically concerned with her regret over the decision, and her new lover even tells her, “You don’t run out on the woman you love (160).” It’s an interesting thematic contrast that in the medieval text death is preferred because of the thematic concern with shame sex causes, whereas the contemporary text prefers death for the sex, and shows it through themes. Whereas the characters in Written on the Body are thematically positioned as left of society, Margery Kempe is thematically shamed by her peers for her thematically overly pious behavior. While it’s easy to criticize Margery for her thematic religious extremism, the texts characterizations of the sexual act thematically attest to differing sexual paradigms and use them to show the contrasting and comparative ways that shame and infidelity are understood in the two texts. In The Book of Margery Kempe sex is thematically referred to as dirty, “unclean,” and it is only undertaken by Margery at great pains, “she would have preferred, or so she thought, to eat or drink the slime, the muck in the gutter than to agree to any sexual contact.” While there is an unholy connotation to these characterizations, one must consider the health implications for such an act during the medieval period. Conversely, Written on the Wind emphasizes the ease to which adulterous behavior occurs. The protagonist says, “Cheating is easy. There is no swank to infidelity…When I say ‘I will be true to you’ I am drawing a quiet space beyond the reach of other desires (77).” Ultimately, the speaker is saying that in contemporary society the pulls of love and lust have outweighed concerns with resultant shame and have created an environment where cheating really is easy. In conclusion, even as both texts seem to exhibit starkly different thematic portrayals of infidelity and shame, their underlining social understandings of the adulterous body are very much aligned. In Written on the Body we see the theme of adultery as a natural form of the human relationship cycle, impossible to physically avoid. The Book of Margery Kempe explores the opposite perspective, thematically, as the main character exalts sexual stoicism as a pious virtue. Even as the texts stand in stark contrast in these regards, the characters are reprimanded for their actions: in Written on the Body it is through the thematic shame of those affected by the thematic adulterous behavior; whereas in The Book of Margery Kempe society thematically casts Margery as a religious extremist for her thematically stoic behavior. Read More